DOCSLIB.ORG

Aristophanes, Socrates, and the CLOUDS Tully P. Daniel

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Aristophanes, Socrates, and the CLOUDS Tully P. Daniel Up in the Air: Aristophanes, Socrates, and THE CLOUDS Tully P. Daniel The Graces, seeking a precinct imperishable, Found it in the spirit of Aristophanes. Plato1 . Aristophanes is undoubtedly the first creative genius of Western comedy and by common consent one of the supreme masters of his craft. That judgment is necessarily based on only a quarter of his output-of the forty or so plays Aristophanes evidently wrote, eleven have come down to us bearing his name. Yet even here Aristophanes has been more fortunate than almost any other Greek poet. Out of the work of some fifty Athenian comic dramatists whose careers overlapped Aristophanes, not a single play has survived. Thus, almost all of our ideas concerning Greek Old Comedy are derived from a study of his plays. The results of this intensive scrutiny have produced mixed results at best. Critics, both ancient and modern, have found themselves faced with an abundance of problems: What to make of the peculiar mix of haunting lyric poetry and obscene bawdry? Can surreal fantasy and lampoon denote a higher moral concern? Are Aristophanes' own frequent claims about the "serious" purpose of his plays to be taken seriously? Perhaps no other play so well exemplifies the critical dilemma as does The Clouds and its wonderful, ragging satire of the sophists. But is the portratit of Socrates a willful act of malicious slander by Aristophanes? Why did this young and intelligent playwright present the wisest and most virtuous man of his time as a ridiculous and improbable buffoon? An attempt to answer these questions might well begin with a look at the culture of fifth century Greece that provides both the background and material for The Clouds. As a result of the intellectual curiosity that distinguished the Greeks, two new developments were beginning to conflict with the traditional beliefs and practices of Greek society. One was scientific speculation on the structure of the universe, leaving little room for the traditional gods. The second development relevant to The Clouds is the growth of interest in the techniques of persuasion in lawcourts and political assemblies. 2 Since the aims of the sophists were largely those of political education, the art and study of speech dominated their educational work. The Athenian public, in spite of a general interest in rhetoric, had only vague and often wrong ideas about the sophists and their theories. The people considered them idlers and liked to include, under the name of sophists, not only teachers and thinkers, but also soothsayers, physicians, and astronomers as well: parasites who got all they could from the State. 3 They were "sophists," since they lived by their brains and charged very high fees. Thus, Aristophanes' genius for comic distortion and absurdity found a ready-made target in what the audience percieved as the sophist "corruption" of traditional education and values. Here was yet another chance to exploit what translator William Arrowsmith has termed the'' ... enormous cultural polarities ... which Aristophanes loved to elaborate and which he presented in play after play as locked in a life-and-death struggle for the soul of Athens. " 4 The Clouds is one of the best known plays of Aristophanes and, without doubt, the one that contains.the most puzzling riddle in his entire work: Why did Aristophanes select Socrates as his spokesman for the sophists, deliberately exploiting him in a grotesque, and hilarious caricature? It might be useful to note here that the Socrates of The Clouds is one of the few portraits of a "young" forty-seven-year-old philosopher, not the older Socrates that Plato created nearly thirty or forty years later when the early dialogues were published. Also, Aristophanes was not the only comic dramatist to make fun of Socrates-his appearance and eccentricities evidently made him a peculiarly good subject. He is at least mentioned by four other writers of Old Comedy. While not all the remarks are uncomplimentary, he is represented as " ... squalid (literally 'unwashed'), thievish, and an endless talker indulging in time-wasting dialectical subtleties." 5 Nevertheless, the main source of the comic Socrates is The Clouds; hence, the nagging question-why was Socrates of all men chosen to represent the sophists, whereas he is depicted by Plato as the most formidable enemy of that movement? One authority has suggested at least a partial answer: Socrates may have been chosen because he was a "free-lance" philosopher who never had a school of his own; thus Aristophanes could avoid libeling any of the particular sophistic academies and their wealthy patrons. 6 Whether Aristophanes privately believed that Socrates was a sophist or presented him that way for preposterous effect, we cannot really know. It is feasible that the poet saw similarities in some of the methods and ideas of both Socrates and the sophists: dialectics , aversion to the old religion, and attacks on traditional views, especially of man's knowledge and justice. 7 It was also traditional in Old Comedy to present familiar faces. Professor Cornford, in The Origin of Attic Comedy, argues that the actors wore one or another of set of stock masks representing a few set types: the Boastful Soldier, the Parasite, the Learned Doctor-which in a particular play were attached to the name of a well-known 7 contemporary fig-ure. (Chapter 8) With his bald head and s-nub nose, his belly, his bare fe·et, and shabby clothes,, Socrates offered a comic writer of Aristophanes' gifts a temptation he obviously could not resist. Another consideration having to do with tradition involves the evolution of Old Comedy from the earlier komos . The komos was a convention whose essential elements were invective and abuse. Thus the Athenian comic poet was not just given free reign to be abusive, but that abuse was exp·ected by the audience. • There would not have bee-n any question of representing Socrates seriously and accurately. Otherwise, why would A.ristophanes gather together the Weaker Discourse of Protagoras, some of the rhetoric of Gorgias, the air physics of Diogene·s, the linguistics of Prodicus, and the ethic of Antiphon into one caricature called Socrates? 9 This outrageous send-up of a familiar figure is not unusually cruel in Socrates' case; in fact, it is rather typical for Aristophanes. Consider his unrelenting distortion of Euripides in several works such as The Archanians: Euripidies' words are taken out of context, his plays parodied by willful misunderstanding, and even his mother made fun of because she sold vegetables! Some have noted that the Platonic defenders, angered by Aristophanes' mockery of Socrates, have never come to the defense of Euripides. 10 Actually, the "harsh treatment" of Socrates in The Clouds is surprisingly mild and impersonal. The savage attack on Cleon in The Knights is an interesting comparison. Except for a couple of digs at Socrates' funny walk and his general untidiness, Aristophanes completely avoids the personal. We get nothing about the legendary shrewish wife Xanthippe, nothing about the fashionable homosexuality of the Soctratic circle, nothing about Socrates' midwife mother-a virtual gold mine for satiric lampooning that Aristophanes studiously avoids mining. Instead, the charges leveled at Socrates are entirely professional: he is a trickster and a charlatan. Such observations appear to coincide with the critical opinion that views Socrates not as the improbable victim of The Clouds, but as the poet's comic representative of the sophistic "corruption" that is the play's real subject. Whether or not the loose assemblage of intellects, frauds, and 'educators' referred to as 'sophists' could be called a movement was of little concern to Aristophanes. He saw them as a conspiracy of humbugs and used Socrates as their emblem, exploiting the average citizen's warped stereotype of philosophy and science. Many pages have been written to substantiate the claim that the attack on sophistry in The Clouds is a clear indication of Aristophanes' extremely conservative viewpoint-that he considers the prevailing educational system to be the cause of the overall decline of Athens. Critics have eagerly pointed to the few known facts concerning his birth and middle-class upbringing during the glory of Periclean Athens as evidence of his conservativism. But what of the fact that the Old Tradition is lampooned just as relentlessly in the character of Strepsiades, the Athenian citizen and would-be pupil of Socrates? Strepsiades-his name translates almost literally as "Debtdodger" and is played upon throughout the play" is a typical comic hero, who acts as a buffoon to mock the pretensions of his opponent. Aristophanes shows that Strepsiades can be duped only because he had been corrupted prior to his enrollment in the Thinkery. Confronted with new ideas, Strepsiades alternates between extravagant praise and earthy comments which disgust his guides. Thus, Aristophanes manages to parody both learning and ignorance. But these are only two of the polar opposites Aristophanes sets up and elaborates on throughout the play: wise and foolish, young and old, city and country, rich and poor-culminatjng in the central argument of the Two Logics. f · The contemporary classical scholar and translator William Arrowsmith has greatly clarified the central issue of The Clouds by rendering the so-called Just Reason and Unjust Reason as Philosophy and Sophistry respectively. (He also justifies his rendition in a lengthy note appended to his cited translation of the play, p.117+ .) Here the comic genius of Aristophanes to play off opposites is clearly in evidence. The contest between Philosophy and Sophistry is really no contest. Philosophy has no weapon against the harsh criticisms of Sophistry except bad temper, and the peculiar feature of his idealized picture of the boys of an earlier generation is that his interest is strongly focused on their genitals.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Plato's Symposium. a Critical Guide
    CJ-Online, 2018.10.03 BOOK REVIEW Plato’s Symposium. A Critical Guide. By PIERRE DESTRÉE and ZINA GIANNOPOU- LOU, eds. Cambridge, UK and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2017. Pp. ix + 268. Hardback, $99.99. ISBN 978-1-107-11005-2. estrée and Giannopoulou have provided scholars with thirteen exegeti- cally rich and philosophically sophisticated chapters on Plato’s Sympo- sium, written for the most part by scholars with numerous publications D(in several cases, numerous books) on Plato, classical Greek moral psychology, and ancient Greek philosophy. Many of the chapters warrant discussion at least to the length that I am allotted for my review of the entire volume, which alas I cannot provide here. In lieu of that: First, an overview: Since the editors’ introduction ably summarizes the main insights and methodological approaches of each individual chapter, I will refrain from duplicating such effort and instead offer an overview of the volume’s organ- ization. Running through the volume is a commitment to understanding Plato’s Symposium through the interrelations of the dialogue’s various encomia of Erôs and their anticipations of Diotima’s account. The first two chapters consider the “place-settings,” as it were, to the encomia of Erôs in the Symposium: Zina Gian- nopoulou examines how the dialogue’s outer frame and prologue anticipate as- pects of temporality raised by Diotima’s speech, while Jeremy Reid looks at inter- textual connections between the positive depictions of Erôs in the first three speeches of the Symposium and the account of potential guardians in the Republic.
    [Show full text]
  • EUTHYPHRO and the LOGIC of MIASMA Maureen ECKERT
    EUTHYPHRO AND THE LOGIC OF MIASMA Maureen ECKERT ABSTRACT: Euthyphro is a Socratic interlocutor claiming enormous religious expertise, while his portrayal in the eponymous dialogue raises questions the reliability of his beliefs. This paper closely examines how Euthyphro justifies his case against his father, identifying an argument that relies on the concept of miasma (pollution). In so far as miasma is considered in isolation, Euthyphro has a good argument. Unfortunately, there is more than miasma at stake when considering why one could prosecute one’s own parent. Introducing the other relevant concepts, honor and shame, we find his case reflects a dilemma at the source of ancient Greek religious thought. It would not be possible for Euthyphro or anyone else to know what to do in his case. KEYWORDS: Plato, Euthyphro, Dilemma, Miasma, Pollution This is why even now I go around in accordance with the God, seeking out and investigating both citizens and foreigners, any whom I suppose are wise, and when someone doesn’t seem so to me, I make it clear they are not wise, assisting the god. (Appology 23b)1 Euthyphro is a classic Socratic interlocutor, one who claims expertise in religion and is then shown that he does not know what he claims to know. Plato’s vivid characterization of Euthyphro’s variety of quirks, his claims of superiority, his lack of self-awareness, his susceptibility to Socrates’ mocking flattery, the outrageousness of his case, make it easy to lose sight of any philosophically significant elements contained in his claims. While he exemplifies the type of epistemic hubris Socrates is out to cure, it would be a mistake to write him off ad hominem.
    [Show full text]
  • Agorapicbk-17.Pdf
    Excavations of the Athenian Agora Picture Book No. 17 Prepared by Mabel L. Lang Dedicated to Eugene Vanderpool o American School of Classical Studies at Athens ISBN 87661-617-1 Produced by the Meriden Gravure Company Meriden, Connecticut COVER: Bone figure of Socrates TITLE PAGE: Hemlock SOCRATES IN THE AGORA AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 1978 ‘Everything combines to make our knowledge of Socrates himself a subject of Socratic irony. The only thing we know definitely about him is that we know nothing.’ -L. Brunschvicg As FAR AS we know Socrates himselfwrote nothing, yet not only were his life and words given dramatic attention in his own time in the Clouds of Ar- istophanes, but they have also become the subject of many others’ writing in the centuries since his death. Fourth-century B.C. writers who had first-hand knowledge of him composed either dialogues in which he was the dominant figure (Plato and Aeschines) or memories of his teaching and activities (Xe- nophon). Later authors down even to the present day have written numerous biographies based on these early sources and considering this most protean of philosophers from every possible point of view except perhaps the topograph- ical one which is attempted here. Instead of putting Socrates in the context of 5th-century B.C. philosophy, politics, ethics or rhetoric, we shall look to find him in the material world and physical surroundings of his favorite stamping- grounds, the Athenian Agora. Just as ‘agora’ in its original sense meant ‘gathering place’ but came in time to mean ‘market place’, so the agora itself was originally a gathering place I.
    [Show full text]
  • Middle Comedy: Not Only Mythology and Food
    Acta Ant. Hung. 56, 2016, 421–433 DOI: 10.1556/068.2016.56.4.2 VIRGINIA MASTELLARI MIDDLE COMEDY: NOT ONLY MYTHOLOGY AND FOOD View metadata, citation and similar papersTHE at core.ac.ukPOLITICAL AND CONTEMPORARY DIMENSION brought to you by CORE provided by Repository of the Academy's Library Summary: The disappearance of the political and contemporary dimension in the production after Aris- tophanes is a false belief that has been shared for a long time, together with the assumption that Middle Comedy – the transitional period between archaia and nea – was only about mythological burlesque and food. The misleading idea has surely risen because of the main source of the comic fragments: Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters. However, the contemporary and political aspect emerges again in the 4th c. BC in the creations of a small group of dramatists, among whom Timocles, Mnesimachus and Heniochus stand out (significantly, most of them are concentrated in the time of the Macedonian expansion). Firstly Timocles, in whose fragments the personal mockery, the onomasti komodein, is still present and sharp, often against contemporary political leaders (cf. frr. 17, 19, 27 K.–A.). Then, Mnesimachus (Φίλιππος, frr. 7–10 K.–A.) and Heniochus (fr. 5 K.–A.), who show an anti- and a pro-Macedonian attitude, respec- tively. The present paper analyses the use of the political and contemporary element in Middle Comedy and the main differences between the poets named and Aristophanes, trying to sketch the evolution of the genre, the points of contact and the new tendencies. Key words: Middle Comedy, Politics, Onomasti komodein For many years, what is known as the “food fallacy”1 has been widespread among scholars of Comedy.
    [Show full text]
  • The Development of Comedy Lecture No:118
    1 Subject: ENGLISH Class: B.A. Part 11 Honours, Paper-111[DRAMA] Topic: The Development of Comedy Lecture No:118 By: Prof. Sunita Sinha Head, Department of English Women’s College Samastipur L.N.M.U., Darbhanga The Development of Comedy Comedy: • A dramatic literary genre generally defined as the opposite of tragedy and characterized by the portrayal of amusing situations featuring ordinary people in ordinary situations. • Comedy often begins with a sad or difficult situation but ends happily. • Comedy is a literary work that aims primarily to provoke laughter. 2 • Unlike tragedy, which seeks to engage profound emotions and sympathies, comedy strives to entertain chiefly through criticism and ridicule of man's customs and institutions. • Comedy comes from the Greek word komoidia - komos meaning a group revel (i.e. having fun) and idia meaning song. Comedies were introduced to the play competition in 486BC. • Comedy a form of drama that is intended to amuse and that ends happily. • Comedy differs from Farce and Burlesque by having a more sustained plot, more weighty and subtle dialogue, more natural characters and less boisterous behavior. • English comedy developed from native dramatic forms growing out of the religious drama, the morality plays and interludes, and the performances of wandering entertainers, such as dancers and jugglers. • In the Renaissance, the re discovery of Latin comedy and the effort to apply the rules of classical criticism to drama significantly affected the course of English comedy. 3 Comedy can be arranged in three divisions, -the old, the middle and the new. Comedy OLD MIDDLE NEW 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Plato's Symposium: the Ethics of Desire
    Plato’s Symposium: The Ethics of Desire FRISBEE C. C. SHEFFIELD 1 Contents Introduction 1 1. Ero¯s and the Good Life 8 2. Socrates’ Speech: The Nature of Ero¯s 40 3. Socrates’ Speech: The Aim of Ero¯s 75 4. Socrates’ Speech: The Activity of Ero¯s 112 5. Socrates’ Speech: Concern for Others? 154 6. ‘Nothing to do with Human AVairs?’: Alcibiades’ Response to Socrates 183 7. Shadow Lovers: The Symposiasts and Socrates 207 Conclusion 225 Appendix : Socratic Psychology or Tripartition in the Symposium? 227 References 240 Index 249 Introduction In the Symposium Plato invites us to imagine the following scene: A pair of lovers are locked in an embrace and Hephaestus stands over them with his mending tools asking: ‘What is it that you human beings really want from each other?’ The lovers are puzzled, and he asks them again: ‘Is this your heart’s desire, for the two of you to become parts of the same whole, and never to separate, day or night? If that is your desire, I’d like to weld you together and join you into something whole, so that the two of you are made into one. Look at your love and see if this is what you desire: wouldn’t this be all that you want?’ No one, apparently, would think that mere sex is the reason each lover takes such deep joy in being with the other. The soul of each lover apparently longs for something else, but cannot say what it is. The beloved holds out the promise of something beyond itself, but that something lovers are unable to name.1 Hephaestus’ question is a pressing one.
    [Show full text]
  • The Trial of Socrates 399 BCE
    The Trial of Socrates 399 BCE 2 WHY? The trial and execution of Socrates in Athens in 399 B.C.E. puzzles historians What did Socrates say or do that prompted a jury to send a seventy- year-old philosopher to his death? Finding an answer is complicated by the two surviving accounts of the defense They were written by Socrates disciples, Plato and Xenophon Their accounts probably were trying to show their master in a favorable light They failed to present the most damning evidence against Socrates 3 The decisions to prosecute and ultimately convict Socrates had a lot to do with the turbulent history of Athens in the several years preceding his trial An examination of that history may not provide final answers, but it does provide important clues 4 As a young man, Socrates saw the rise to power of Pericles He brought on the dawning of the "Golden Age of Greece." Pericles--perhaps history's first liberal politician-- acted on his belief that the masses deserved liberty Pericles used the public treasury to promote the arts He pushed a building program designed to demonstrate the glory that was Greece It also ensured full employment and opportunities for the lower classes Pericles rebuilt the Acropolis and constructed the Parthenon 5 Parthenon 6 SOCRATES’ BELIEFS Meanwhile, Socrates developed a set of values and beliefs that would put him at odds with most Athenians 7 Socrates was not a democrat To him, the people should not be self-governing They were like a herd of sheep that needed a wise shepherd He denied that citizens had basic virtue
    [Show full text]
  • Strepsiades, Socrates and the Abuses of Intellectualism Green, Peter Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Spring 1979; 20, 1; Periodicals Archive Online Pg
    Strepsiades, Socrates and the Abuses of Intellectualism Green, Peter Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Spring 1979; 20, 1; Periodicals Archive Online pg. 15 Strepsiades, Socrates and the Abuses of Intellectualism Peter Green N PLATO'S Theaetetus, Socrates at one point (155E) offers to help I search out the truth of some well-known thinkers' hidden opinions. When Theaetetus responds eagerly to this offer, Socrates cautions him as follows: "Take a good look round," he says, "make sure no non-initiate is listening." Ironical or not, this remark at once reminds us of the student-gatekeeper in Aristophanes' pseudo­ Socratic CPPOV'TLC'T~PLOV (143, if. 140), who informs Strepsiades that the information he is about to impart must be regarded as {J-VC'T~PLCX.l Socrates then goes on to define 'non-initiates' in this context: "These are they who think nothing exists beyond what they can grasp in their two hands and who refuse to admit that actions and origins and abstraction generally have any real substance."2 Theaetetus, agreeing, describes such persons as 'stubborn and obstinate' (CKA:'lPOVC • .• KcxL a~·'TL'Tt;'TOVC). Socrates corrects him. They are, more precisely, a{J-ovcoL, without the Muses, gross, crude, lacking in both taste and mental cultivation. There is a similar attack in the Sophist (246A-B), and later in that dialogue (259E) the Eleatic Stranger links the epithet a{J-ovcoc with an equally derogatory one: acpLAococpoC, of which perhaps the most accurate translation would be 'non- (or anti-) intellectual'. Plato's immediate object in both cases was to discredit the 1 See A.
    [Show full text]
  • PLATO on the PLEASURES of COMEDY Lauren Olin*
    7 PLATO ON THE PLEASURES OF COMEDY Lauren Olin* Abstract In considering Plato’s position on humor, we are faced with an apparent paradox. There is evidence that Plato thought deeply about humor and recognized its value––Plato’s writings and Socrates’s ironic disposition testify to his comedic sensitivity––but Plato’s explicit remarks on the subjects of humor and comedy are largely negative (e.g. Laws 934d-936c; Apology 18d, 19c; Philebus 48a-50c; cf. Morreall 1983: 4-5). This paper aims first to reconstruct his view on the topics of humor and comedy, and secondly to examine this apparent paradox in light of that reconstruction. I argue first that Plato’s discussion of comedy in the Philebus is intended to apply narrowly to the case of malicious comedy. I’ll then argue that, understood in light of the broader context of the Philebus, Plato’s account is possessed of resources to explain both why humor is a valuable part of the good life, and why, for some individuals, exposure to humor brings only deleterious effects and should not be indulged. Key words: Plato, Philebus, Pleasure, Comedy, Humor I. It seems reasonable to believe that Plato’s dialogues have endured, at least in part, because they are amusing. Without exception: Plato’s writings are woven through with humor and witticism, and so testify to his comedic sensitivity (Wood 2007, Halper 2011). Plato’s main character, Socrates, is endowed with cunning sense of humor and, often, this capacity is instrumental in his efforts to put “pretenders to wisdom” in their proper places (Apology 33c).
    [Show full text]
  • Slaves, Sex, and Transgression in Greek Old Comedy
    Slaves, Sex, and Transgression in Greek Old Comedy By Daniel Christopher Walin A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Classics in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Mark Griffith, Chair Professor Donald J. Mastronarde Professor Kathleen McCarthy Professor Emily Mackil Spring 2012 1 Abstract Slaves, Sex, and Transgression in Greek Old Comedy by Daniel Christopher Walin Doctor of Philosophy in Classics University of California, Berkeley Professor Mark Griffith, Chair This dissertation examines the often surprising role of the slave characters of Greek Old Comedy in sexual humor, building on work I began in my 2009 Classical Quarterly article ("An Aristophanic Slave: Peace 819–1126"). The slave characters of New and Roman comedy have long been the subject of productive scholarly interest; slave characters in Old Comedy, by contrast, have received relatively little attention (the sole extensive study being Stefanis 1980). Yet a closer look at the ancestors of the later, more familiar comic slaves offers new perspectives on Greek attitudes toward sex and social status, as well as what an Athenian audience expected from and enjoyed in Old Comedy. Moreover, my arguments about how to read several passages involving slave characters, if accepted, will have larger implications for our interpretation of individual plays. The first chapter sets the stage for the discussion of "sexually presumptive" slave characters by treating the idea of sexual relations between slaves and free women in Greek literature generally and Old Comedy in particular. I first examine the various (non-comic) treatments of this theme in Greek historiography, then its exploitation for comic effect in the fifth mimiamb of Herodas and in Machon's Chreiai.
    [Show full text]
  • The Clouds Aristophanes
    The Clouds Aristophanes TRANSLATED BY ANONYMOUS ROMAN ROADS MEDIA Classical education, from a Christian perspective, created for the homeschool. Roman Roads combines its technical expertise with the experience of established authorities in the field of classical education to create quality video courses and resources tailored to the homeschooler. Just as the first century roads of the Roman Empire were the physical means by which the early church spread the gospel far and wide, so Roman Roads Media uses today’s technology to bring timeless truth, goodness, and beauty into your home. By combining excellent instruction augmented with visual aids and examples, we help inspire in your children a lifelong love of learning. The Clouds by Aristophanes translated by Anonymous This text was designed to accompany Roman Roads Media's 4-year video course Old Western Culture: A Christian Approach to the Great Books. For more information visit: www.romanroadsmedia.com. Other video courses by Roman Roads Media include: Grammar of Poetry featuring Matt Whitling Introductory Logic taught by Jim Nance Intermediate Logic taught by Jim Nance French Cuisine taught by Francis Foucachon Copyright © 2013 by Roman Roads Media, LLC Roman Roads Media 739 S Hayes St, Moscow, Idaho 83843 A ROMAN ROADS ETEXT The Clouds Aristophanes TRANSLATED BY ANONYMOUS Dramatis Personae Strepsiades Phidippides Servant of Strepsiades Disciples of Socrates Socrates Just Discourse Unjust Discourse Pasias, a Money-Lender Amynias, another Money-Lender Chorus of Clouds A ROMAN ROADS ETEXT Scene: In the background are two houses, that of Strepsiades and that of Socrates, the Thoughtery. The latter is small and dingy; the interior of the former is shown and two beds are seen, each occupied.
    [Show full text]
  • The Clouds of Aristophanes
    SCIT TRANSLATION 0 THE CLOUDS OF ARISTOPHANES THE CLOUDS OF ARISTOPHANES TRANSLATED FOR MODERN PERFORMANCE BY ZANA BASS, NICHOLAS BOTERF, AL DUNCAN, FOIVOS KARACHALIOS, JAMES KIERSTEAD, MATT SIMONTON, VINCE TOMASSO, AND HANS WIETZKE STANFORD, CALIFORNIA COPYRIGHT © 2010, STANFORD CLASSICS IN THEATER ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 1 SCIT TRANSLATION 2 THE CLOUDS OF ARISTOPHANES CONTENTS Translator’s Note 5 Director’s Note 9 Original Company 13 THE CLOUDS 15 3 SCIT TRANSLATION 4 THE CLOUDS OF ARISTOPHANES AS TRANSLATORS’ NOTE Ten years ago, it would have been impossible to create the translation you are about to hear. Composed collaboratively by eight translators, writing over the past eight months from such sundry locations as South Africa, Tennessee, and California, the digital medium of ‘cloud computing’ was essential to our translation of one of the world’s oldest comedies. Fifth-century Athens meets twenty-first century Silicon Valley. Aristophanes shakes hands with Google Docs. From sitcoms to late-night talk shows to feature films, the majority of modern comedy is team-written. Collaborative composition suits comedy well. Comedy must cater to the majority: as spectators, then and now, we laugh with our fellow audience as much as we laugh at the comedy itself. Social composition is a natural extension of this principle. A writing-team and innovative cast blur the distinction between author and audience. Bad jokes are left on the (now digital) cutting room floor, and comedic timing is well honed long before opening night. Aristophanes, however (the evidence suggests) composed his comedies alone. It boots little to ask whether his comedy would have improved from collaboration.
    [Show full text]